Majority of SKoreans in NKorean factory to return

South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae leaves after a news conference at Government Complex in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 26, 2013. Seoul said Friday that it has decided to withdraw the roughly 175 South Koreans still at a jointly run factory complex in North Korea, raising a major question about the survival of the last symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
— AP

South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae leaves after a news conference at Government Complex in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 26, 2013. Seoul said Friday that it has decided to withdraw the roughly 175 South Koreans still at a jointly run factory complex in North Korea, raising a major question about the survival of the last symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
/ AP

The complex, conceived following the historic 2000 summit between late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, broke ground in 2003. The plan was for South Korean firms to build 500 factories as part of a pledge to help develop North Korea's economy, Pak Chol Su, vice director of the General Bureau for Central Guidance, which manages Kaesong, told the Associated Press in September.

The statements on Kaesong this week follow what had been something of a lull after a weeks-long tirade of warlike North Korean rhetoric that included threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. Tension rose as Seoul responded with its own tough language to Pyongyang's outburst, which was unusually violent, even by the standards of the already hostile relationship between the Koreas.

"This is a war of pride between the Koreas, but they are conducting it while leaving some room for talks," Lee Hochul, a political science professor at Incheon National University in South Korea, said, adding neither side is mentioning a permanent shutdown of the industrial complex.

Meanwhile, North Korea said Saturday it will soon put a detained American on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow the government, further complicating its already tense relations with the United States. Earlier in Washington, Republican and Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill calling for the punishment of companies, banks and governments that engage in illicit dealings with North Korea. Pyongyang has already come under a series of U.N. and U.S. sanctions for its three nuclear tests since 2006, including the latest in February.

In South Korea, regular U.S.-South Korean military drills, which Pyongyang complained bitterly about, are set to end Tuesday.

"Even at this moment, South Korea is ramping up the intensity of coastal landing drills with the United States in the east, driving the already tense situation to a point of explosion," North Korea said in its statement, complaining about alleged South Korean military plans in the event the North held the Kaesong managers hostage.